


Stars roll Slowly

by Adara_Rose



Series: oops I broke Helen [4]
Category: Gotham (TV) RPF
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Car Accidents, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Tragic Romance, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 07:03:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15724371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adara_Rose/pseuds/Adara_Rose
Summary: Something has happened. Something terrible. But Robin can’t remember. And where is Cory?





	Stars roll Slowly

_ The sobs would break Robin’s heart into a thousand pieces, even if he wasn’t been staring at the form huddled on the floor, shuddering so hard with each desperate cry. _

_ “Tell me what’s wrong”, he pleads. “Please, please, tell me what’s wrong.” _

 

\---

 

The first thing he is aware of is that everything hurts, even opening his eyes. The light is too bright, and he closes them again, whimpering softly. He can hear the noises around him, voices shouting that  _ he’s awake, he’s awake, _ but Robin just wants it all to go away. He has a splitting headache and is so tired, no, exhausted. And there is a beeping noise that’s driving him out of his head. Where is he? And what happened?

Someone is clutching his hand like a lifeline, almost to a point where it hurts, but that hand is also keeping him tethered to the world around him.  _ Cory?  _ He thinks as the darkness pulls him back under,  _ Is that you? _

 

\---

 

_ A white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, and Robin is starting to get frightened. But the concern is winning out, because the man driving the car is crying as hard as earlier, as if his heart is breaking, and he really shouldn’t be driving at a time like this. _

 

_ \--- _

 

The next time Robin opens his eyes, the light hurts like a knife burying into his skull. He groans, pressing his eyes shut again, and suddenly it is more than he has the energy for to open them again. The beep-beep noise is still there, but distant, as if he is hearing it through water or a thick wall.

Someone is talking to him, but he is too tired to listen. He knows that voice.

 

\---

 

_ “Don’t” the word is spat out, angry, but the desperation beneath it is obvious for anyone who listens. He is very good at listening. “Don’t you say that to me.”  _

_ “Cory-” he tries again, but is interrupted by a frantic, “You love me. Don’t you dare say you don’t.” _

_ “I’m married!” He protests, his voice hollow even to his own ears. “I love him. I will always love him. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. You know that!” _

_ “No. No. No!” each cry of denial is punctuated by a fist colliding with the steering wheel.  _

 

\---

 

Robin opens his eyes to a white ceiling that does not hurt to look at. The incessant beeping is still there, but it doesn’t feel like it’s splitting his skull. He tries to turn his head, but something is keeping him immobile and for a moment he panics, struggling in desperation against his restraints.

“Robin? Robin, please, you have to stay still, your head- it’s okay-” The voice is desperate, hands holding him down, he tries again to turn his head to see who it is.

“Nurse! NURSE!” 

_...Ben? _

 

\---

 

_ “I care about you, so much! You know that! You’re my best-” _

_ “If you say  _ friend _ so help me god-” _

_ “But you are! And that’s all there can ever be!” More sobs, as wild as earlier, tears slipping unendingly down pale cheeks like the rain that would have been pouring if this was a movie. But it isn’t a movie. _

_ “You can’t do this to me. You can’t! What about- what about-” _

 

\---

 

Robin opens his eyes to a distinct lack of beeping. It feels odd, an unnatural silence punctuated only by the smell of bleach and the pale white ceiling above him. He still can’t turn his head, but somehow that isn’t so bad now. He’s so tired, so impossibly tired. But where is he? Nothing is making sense. He can’t remember what has passed, or how long ago it was. His mind is as blank as the ceiling, and the headache that throbs deep inside his skull only intensifies when he tries to remember. But something did happen, he is sure of it. Something happened. If only he could remember.

 

\---

 

_ “Please, you have to calm down.” He reaches out, places a hand on Cory’s arm. Feels how tense the muscles are. “We can go somewhere and talk, properly, but you have to slow down! You’ll get us arrested!” _

_ “I don’t care!” Like a wounded animal, howling in despair. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters!” _

_ “You don’t mean that-” He pleads, but he isn’t heard. _

_ “Yes I do! All that matters to me is you!” _

 

\---

 

Again he rises from the darkness to stare up at the white ceiling that has become his entire waking world. By now he knows that his head is being kept immobile, the doctors told him so when he panicked earlier, there is a swelling in his skull they can’t get to subside, even though they’ve drilled holes in his skull base. He didn’t understand half of the jargon, but he understood that much. There has been some sort of accident, then. He doesn’t remember, no matter how hard he tries. And where is Cory? He remembers a car. There was- there was- no, his mind shies away. Darkness closes in again, pulling him under, even though he doesn’t want to go. 

_ Cory?  _ He thinks muzzily as he falls,  _ where are you? _

 

\---

 

_ “Cory, please, you don’t mean that-” He looks at him then, eyes wild with desperation, and all words leave Robin in that moment. Because he can see in Cory’s eyes that yes, he does mean it, he does. _

_ “Please-” he begs, but doesn’t know what he’s begging for. _

_ “I love you” the other man nigh-on wails, and it hurts so much to hear it. _

_ “I know, Cory I- please-” _

_ One hand leaves the steering wheel, groping for his, but he shies away. Can’t bear to touch him now, too terrified of the implications. _

_ “Look, it's gonna be ok,” he scrambles for the right words to say, “you're gonna find someone and.... and we, you and I, we will always be… Eyes on the road! Cory! Eyes on the road!” _

 

\---

 

He opens his eyes to a voice speaking to him gently, and a hand covering his. He knows the voice, knows the touch. Can feel the love in them. He tries to smile, but there is a tube in his mouth, and when he tries to turn his head it refuses. He settles for squeezing the hand holding his, and the rambling stops to give way to relieved sobs.

“Oh thank god, baby, I was so scared-”

_ Wrong voice,  _ he thinks,  _ Wrong voice. _

But at the same time it is the right voice and he feels so confused. There is only one voice, only one hand holding his, so where is the other one? He wants to ask, but is unable to speak. His eyes find nothing but whiteness.

_ Cory _ , he thinks desperately,  _ where is Cory? _

 

\---

 

_ The darkness is rushing in so fast, and there is a ringing in his ears. What happened? Where are they? Cory? _

_ He can’t turn his head, but someone is holding his hand. Squeezing it with fingers already growing limp. _

_ Cory? _

 

\---

 

Once more he rises from darkness, the dreams - or are they memories? - slipping away like sand between your fingers. This time another hand is holding his, and for a wild delirious moment Robin thinks it’s  _ his  _ hand. But then he hears a woman crying, and isn’t sure if he is relieved or disappointed. 

“Oh sweetie” the woman cries, clutching his hand like a life-line, “you’re alive, it’s alright, everything is going to be fine-”

But something isn’t right, something nagging at his mind, something he can’t remember. It isn’t alright. But he doesn't know why.

 

\---

 

_ “Robin” someone whispers, impossible distant and right in his ear, “Robin.” _

_ He has to force his eyes open.  _

_ A hand squeezes his. _

_ “Robin.” But the tone says something else. “I love you” the voice whispers, hidden in the syllables of his name. _

_ He looks up, into adoring eyes. Bathes in the warmth of his smile. _

 

_ \--- _

 

“Robin?” The voice is full of worry, anxious and pleading. His eyelids are so heavy, but he forces them open.  _ I’m okay _ , he tries to say but no sound comes out apart from wheezing.

“It’s okay” Dickie whispers, pressing a reverent kiss to the back of his hand, “it’s okay. You’re going to be okay. Just… just stay with me. I need you to stay with me.” 

The room smells like blood and gasoline, and somewhere there is the screeching of tires, the crunching of metal. But the memories are too hazy to make sense, and his brain shies away from the ephemeralness of them. Won’t let them in.

There is something he ought to remember. 

 

\---

 

_ Blood. There is so much blood. And it’s everywhere; in his face, in his eyes, and there is too much of it. And there is a terrible, terrible wheezing, rattling sound. _

_ “Cory?” He manages, but the rest is lost in a cough that makes his mouth taste like metal. _

_ He is rewarded by a smile, though, and in that moment it’s all right, because that smile is so bright and so loving he forgets the taste of metal. _

_ “Beautiful” the other man whispers, and the blood is dripping from his mouth, his crimson lips, and the sound is coming from his chest. _

_ “Cory!” _

 

_ \--- _

 

“Baby?” The man who put a ring on his finger leans over him. “What did you say?”   
“Cory!” He manages again, his throat feeling like it is full of glass. Beautiful eyes clouds over with sadness, disappointment, something else he can’t identify. 

“Oh baby” it’s sadness, he decides. So much sadness. 

“He… I’m so sorry, baby. He didn’t make it. He’s gone.”

Robin closes his eyes. 

He does not open them again.


End file.
